A bear who was abandoned by his mother and raised by humans now has a career as a model posing alongside children and adults.

Photographer, Mila Zhdanova, 40, from Moscow, met Stepan the 28-year-old brown bear through her friendship with the bear's owners, Svetlana and Yuri Pantileenko.

Inspired by Stepan's friendliness around humans, Mila set out to create a series of fantasy-inspired scenes featuring Stepan posing alongside models in traditional Russian dress.

The shoot was done across several months in Moscow, as Stepan can only work for around half an hour at a time.

Talking about the shoot, Mila said: 'People have some stereotyped ideas about Russia. They think we never smile and have bears walking the street,'

'We do have bears but I want to show in my pictures that we do smile. Shooting with Stepan is such a treat and I have to restrain my emotions.

'Stepan is so friendly thanks to his trainers' care and love. I've worked with models from Thailand, Australia, Germany, Britain, and Israel who have all flown to work with him.

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'Some had heard of the modelling bear and had been dreaming of this for five years.

'The shoots are pure delight. There's never any issues. I've had more problems photographing kittens.

'I hope people see the beauty and strength in animals and nature through my photos.'

In one image, a woman in a full-length fairy-tale dress held hands with the 750-pound bear as she leaned in for a kiss.

In another, the bear wrapped its hands around a lollipop offered to him by one of his fellow models.

One shot shows a model in a stunning red dress feeding the bear while another shows a model leaning in and cuddling Stepan.

The brown bear has become a widely used symbol in Russia.

Currently, its emblazoned on the logo of the United Russia political party.

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Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8818817/Bear-abandoned-mother-cub-raised-humans-career-model.html

Photography just has a way of making the ordinary look so out-of-this world. Btw, a modelling bear is not ordinary.....

But the courage the models have to pose with a bear!

Modified: First to comment dedicated to the Nigeria of our Dreams - Where we are not stereotyped unjustly, and wrongly treated/threatened by those saddled with the responsibility of protecting us!

#ProtectUsNotKill #EndSarsBabarism

Domesticating wild animals doesnt mean their diet would change . They just would have their hunting/wild instincts suppressed.

...
Snake wey nor know e value, small pikin dem go use am as rope..

Well, we can't blame the bear... Him ma trust oyinbo..

If na for naija, he go don tear dt girl to pieces

I observe something about we nigerians, we see most of this wild animal as our enemy...
But during my stay in greece, I wonder how these guys play with wild's - have a studymate then who pet a scorpion....

Scorpion wey I dey fear like SARZ for naija..

Though I learnt this wild's do sense human when they see one, 90% have the gift to read human intentions towards them..

Cool Stuffs thou...

Photography is beautiful

Until the bear use one model as peppersoup meat una go get sense incase you dont know na me talk am

Thought Bears can kill .

Endsarz#

Good, Dis Animal Seems To Be Fond Of Her. 4rm My Experience, Animals Seems To Be More Friendly Dan Many Humans.

This will end in tears....

if d bear head skip like this he don finish b that

Hope the bear is vegetarian!??












I still sell affordable laptops with free delivery and pay on delivery.

Details on my signature

Gosj01:
Hope the bear is vegetarian!??

Lool VegetaWHAT?

I hope we don't get to read a disturbing news of the bear snacking on either the photographer or model later.

Look at how everyone kept assuming bad things,no one even said anything positive except Mr righteousness.
It shows how negative our society is,lol
It may not relate,but if you think about it we'll you would see that it is true

wow see original disney..but dont try this at home

This reminds me of the song by Evang. Niyi Adedokun

Won kilo f'olode, sugbon ko gba ikilo,
Aigba ikilo, lo se'ku polode

odikwa risky

The bear is grooming its big feast.
It'll end in premium tears Sha.
Incase most of u dunno, nor think say na only Nigerians get charmers.

I don't understand. How come the bear grew x3 in size while the lil girl is still the same

Me don big pass this type rough play sha

A brown bear and its food are playing together, have become friends, even a lion will avoid a brown bear. Truly, God is great and truly our mankind was made in God's image and it makes animals much more physically powerful than us submit to us when we interact on neutral peaceful terms. They always see us as the master, as the boss to submit to and follow our lead and be under our control, instead of them trying to control us. On neutral peaceful interactions, no matter the animal involved, they never try to control us, but rather they yield their power to us, yield themselves to us like it's their natural programming to view us as the superior. Truly God gave man dominion over this world, and it's in our nature.

[s]

Righteousness89:
Human and Animals... thats Beautiful..

If you Really wanna see the union ,Friendship and Fellowship between Humans and Animals just as it was in the Beginning, before the Fall of Man! Then you Have to Ensure you will be Present when We Return to Earth with JESUS Christ For the Millienium Reign.

It's Gonna be Heaven on Earth..
It's Gonna be Glorious...
It's Gonna be sooo Heavenly..

For anyone to be there ! You Need to Ensure you Have Accepted JESUS Christ..
You Need to Ensure that you are RAPTURE Ready..

[/s]
So a lion will be eating grass. You would need to change a whole lot of it's physiology
Then it is no lion anymore

Nigerians for don chop this one...

Beauty and the Beast Part 2.

. Very beautiful I must admit but sweet Jesus, I can't put you to the test.

The meat go sweet

Kia see as Bush meat they waste.oyibo foolish sha....this one will go well with cold Heineken

s

Righteousness89:
Human and Animals... thats Beautiful..

If you Really wanna see the union ,Friendship and Fellowship between Humans and Animals just as it was in the Beginning, before the Fall of Man! Then you Have to Ensure you will be Present when We Return to Earth with JESUS Christ For the Millienium Reign.

It's Gonna be Heaven on Earth..
It's Gonna be Glorious...
It's Gonna be sooo Heavenly..

For anyone to be there ! You Need to Ensure you Have Accepted JESUS Christ..
You Need to Ensure that you are RAPTURE Ready..

You are becoming crazy with this Ur nonsense comments on Nairaland, u needs to be check up, this is not normal anymore